I didn't see a thread for this but I swear someone mentioned it. Anyway, I finally got a chance to watch the second release of Season 1, which wraps up that particular plot thread. Which is weird because this would have taken 1 episode (maybe 2) in both the cartoon and the Warburton live-action series.

I'm not going into the background for The Tick. You should know it. If you don't, then I highly recommend that if you are/were a fan of shows like Darkwing Duck or Duck Dodgers (any interation): you should find a way to watch The Tick Cartoon. Do it. Just do it.

The Live Action series with Patrick Warburton may not tickle your fancy. I loved it, however the show is pretty much Seinfeld with Superheroes. The show only lasted about 9 episodes, so it wouldn't take much of your time either way.

One thing about both these shows is that the characters mesh extremely well together in their absurdity. The Tick only really stands out because he's a true Paragon of Justice. A White Knight. (EXTREMELY) Chaotic Good. Many of the other characters have different side to them, thus are more grey, but their absurdity, as said, meshes well.

Onto the Amazon Prime show. I felt it would have been unfair to review just the first part of season 1. So I waited, because otherwise this review would not have been all that great. But let's get to it:

First off, the Exceptionally great: Peter Serafinowicz as The Tick. If the show did everything else wrong, his performance would stand out. From the mannerisms, to the completely lack of understanding how reality works, to the CALLS FOR JUSTICE: Serafinowicz exactly captures The Tick. Not to short-change any other actor on the show, I can't find any poor performances. It's just the characters deal with multiple shades of grey and their own issues and it clashes big time with The Tick.

This is really my only complaint. Sure, the world is absurd due to the existence of superheroes, etc. But this is basically dropping The Tick off into Nolan's Batman. Really, the keyword is how the world clashes with The Tick. He has no vices, no faults of morality, no engaging backstory (by design), no fear (except for others). He's "perfect," at least his moral compass. He still causes way too much damage, he's still a buffon, but he's a paragon.

Arthur's development into a superhero takes the entirety of Season 1 and his constant clashing with The Tick gets tiresome. Because he's a real person, with real fears, real social and psychological problems stemming from his obession. Overkill has multiple demons and is a hero that kills because it's the easiest way to do things. He's damaged, like a lot of characters on the show.

Miss Lint, the recurring villianess, is also damaged. She's definitely Evil, but she has a soft side, she's complicated, she's confident, she's bitchy, she's basically a person. That's pretty much everyone on this show and it's done really well.

Then there's The Tick. Now, I (probably) get what the creator is going for here, but the clashing gets old when multiple times the screen is set to show us the same "Aruthur! HEAR THE CALL OF JUSTICE" "Dude, no." "But, Arthur...." Then Arthur kind of hears the call, but then he suffers a setback for X reason. And it will repeat. It DOES make sense because Arthur IS the kind of guy to suffer multiple setbacks. But "making sense" in The Tick gets.... old after a bit.

Like I said, everything wraps up pretty nicely at the end of Season 1 and it's looking like they are gearing up into where the other shows started off or got to quickly. It just took longer than it should have to get there.

All-in-all, I got some complaints, but it's a pretty good show. There's more than a few callbacks done quietly and smartly. The characters are interesting and well done, but the show is basically clashing with itself. Still, worth a watch IMHO.

A last note: speaking about the clashing. So, in one scene you would see something like "The Tick" saying "Great polishing job, I can see myself in this spoon with how well you've cleaned it..... hmm.... spooooon....." Then the next scene, the bad guy has a henchman slit a guy's throat and you get to see blood pour out of the poor guy's neck.

So, if I had to guess, The Tick is going to start rubbing off on the world, since he kind of does that. But it feels like dumping Mary Poppins off in Mordor or something. At the least, it's a more interesting premise than dumping a slightly more absurd, and singularly powerful, hero off into a generic Superhero universe.

I loved it too. It was a bit hard for me to get through the first 2-3 episodes, but after that I was fully into it. The Tick is fantastic, Arthur's pretty good too, the humor is great, and Overkill and Dot are great (they have phenomenal chemistry, which makes the twisted relationship Overkill has with Miss Lint even more amusing).

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.” -Jean-Luc Picard

"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."-Margaret Atwood

I thought it was fantastic. Perfect casting. Serafanowicz, Newman, and Haley could not have nailed their characters any harder. They did a great job showing the collateral damage a brick like Tick can cause, even though he doesn't mean to. And I was glad they quickly dealt with the "Is Tick just in Arthur's mind?" very quickly.

I've heard some complaints regarding how dark/grim the villains could be at times. But I think they never read the original run of the comic, which was pretty bleak at times. I mean, the first panel is Tick deciding to break out of a mental institution simply because he is bored.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know...tomorrow."
-Agent Kay

I've heard some complaints regarding how dark/grim the villains could be at times. But I think they never read the original run of the comic, which was pretty bleak at times. I mean, the first panel is Tick deciding to break out of a mental institution simply because he is bored.

I try to look at things for what they are. This show deviates a lot from the Cartoon and Live-Action show. That's fine, especially when the creator himself is very involved in the new product.

The clash in this show is oddly reminiscent of older anime and even some newer stuff. It's dead-serious. People are dieing, being mutilated, Game of Thrones levels of depravity. Then, cut scene to CHIBI ANIME FACE!

I like it (EDIT: in The Tick, I hate Anime Face bullshit.... usually). With all the emphasis on grimdark stuff, especially in the comic area, it's fun to take someone like Duck Dodgers and dump him off into Neo-BSG or Darkwing Duck into Nolan Batman..... provided either were competent at accomplishing their goal. The Tick is a buffon, but he's a VERY effective buffon. And characters REACT to the reality of that. Or ignore it thinking of The Tick as just another weirdo super-hero. It's fun to see someone like Overkill finally start to come around and realize The Tick is an unstoppable force but also in the personality area. Overkill still tries to change Arthur and Dot, but he gives up much sooner on The Tick and realizes he's the one who has to change.

But people, even me, were expecting a fun-filled romp and you do get that. But you also get depravity and some laughs to go with that.
Mild plot spoilers:
Spoiler

Such as Overkill being tortured so much, he's actually dead and has been for 8 minutes. Or "Get X IN HERE NOW!" "Sir, you killed him yesterday." "...oh yea."

On this note: The Terror (usually a one-note, but hilarious, joke in The Tick) was a really good foil to The Tick. A foil The Terror didn't even know he had. I also loved his relationship with Miss Lint. She's not scared of him at all and she has every reason to be. If anything, he respects her desire to Vader his ass and is (comically) ok when she gets one over on him, even prideful about it.

My problem is the clashing continues to happen, not for "new" laughs. Like the 15th time Arthur and The Tick go around the "Tick, I can't do this." "Yes, you can Arthur." In at least the Live-Action series, there was a point to them, usually more laughs. In the new show, they can feel like padding for the run time.